Privacy Policy
At Seen, your privacy is not something we treat as a checkbox. It is the foundation on which the entire product is built. We believe that a social app should connect people without exploiting them, and that you should always know exactly what is happening with your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect when you use Seen, why we collect it, how we store and protect it, and what rights you have over it. Please read it in full. If you have questions after reading it, we genuinely encourage you to reach out to us directly.
By creating an account or using Seen, you agree to the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree with anything here, please do not use the app.
1. Information We Collect
We collect only what is necessary to make Seen work well and keep it safe. Here is a clear breakdown of each category of information and why we need it.
Phone number and account information. Your phone number is the primary identifier for your account. We use it to verify that you are a real person, to prevent duplicate accounts, and to allow your mutual contacts to find you on Seen. You may optionally add a display name and a profile photo. We store this information on our servers to maintain your account.
Contact matching. With your explicit permission, Seen accesses your device address book to help you find the people you already know who are also on Seen. We do this in a privacy preserving way. Before any contact data ever leaves your device, all phone numbers are converted into one way cryptographic hashes. These are mathematical fingerprints that cannot be reversed to reveal the original phone number. We compare these hashes against hashed records in our system, identify matches, and then discard the hashes. We do not store your raw contact list on our servers at any point.
Messages and calls. All private messages and calls on Seen are end to end encrypted. This means the content of your conversations is encrypted on your device before it is transmitted, and can only be decrypted by the recipient. Our servers act as a relay to deliver the encrypted data, but we do not have the ability to read the content of your messages or listen to your calls. Message content is not retained on our servers after successful delivery.
Profile and feed content. When you post photos, videos, or text to your profile feed, that content is stored on our servers and made visible according to your chosen privacy settings. You can post publicly, which allows anyone on Seen to see your content, or you can post to mutual contacts only, which restricts visibility to people you share a connection with.
Usage and analytics data. We collect anonymised data about how the app is used, such as which features are accessed, how often sessions occur, and when crashes or errors happen. This data cannot be linked back to your personal identity. We use it purely to understand how Seen performs and to make it better.
Device information. We collect your device type, operating system version, app version, and push notification token. This is necessary to deliver notifications to your device and to ensure the app behaves correctly across different hardware and software configurations.
2. How We Use Your Information
Every piece of information we collect is used for a specific, justified purpose. We use your data to verify your identity and create your account, to match you with mutual contacts who have also joined Seen, to deliver your messages, calls, and push notifications, to display your profile and feed content to the right people based on your privacy settings, to detect and prevent spam, abuse, and fraud, and to improve the stability and performance of the app.
We do not sell your personal information to advertisers or any third parties. We do not build advertising profiles based on your activity. Seen does not run ads, and your data will never be used for that purpose.
3. End to End Encryption
All private messages and calls on Seen are protected with end to end encryption using industry standard cryptographic protocols. The keys required to decrypt your conversations exist only on the devices involved in that conversation. Not even Seen has access to those keys. This means that if someone were to intercept your messages in transit, or if Seen itself were ever compelled to hand over data, the content of your conversations would be completely unreadable.
We believe this is the only acceptable standard for a private communications product. It is not a feature we charge extra for. It is simply how Seen works, for everyone, by default.
4. How We Share Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with any third party. There are only a small number of circumstances under which your information may be shared, and we want to be completely transparent about each of them.
Infrastructure service providers. We work with a small number of trusted technology companies who help us run Seen. These include cloud hosting providers and push notification services. They process data only on our behalf and under strict contractual obligations that prohibit them from using your information for any purpose of their own. We carefully evaluate every provider we work with and only share the minimum data necessary.
Legal obligations. If we receive a legally binding order, such as a court order or law enforcement request, we may be required to disclose certain account information. We will always review such requests carefully to ensure they are valid. Critically, because your messages are end to end encrypted, we cannot provide the content of your conversations even when legally compelled to do so, because we genuinely do not have access to it.
Business transfers. In the unlikely event that Seen is acquired by or merges with another company, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction. If this ever happens, we will notify you clearly before the transfer takes place and give you the opportunity to delete your account if you choose not to continue under new ownership.
5. Data Retention
We retain your account information, profile data, and public feed content for as long as your account remains active. Message content is not stored on our servers after it has been successfully delivered to the recipient. If you delete your account, all of your profile data, feed posts, and associated records will be permanently deleted from our systems within 30 days. Some anonymised, aggregated usage data may be retained for longer periods for statistical purposes, but this data cannot be linked to you personally.
6. Your Rights and Choices
You have meaningful control over your information. Here is what you can do at any time.
Access your data. You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you by emailing us at hello@myseenapp.com. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Correct your information. You can update your display name and profile photo at any time from within the app settings.
Delete your account. You can permanently delete your account at any time from the app settings. Once you confirm deletion, your data will be removed from our systems within 30 days. This action cannot be undone.
Manage contact access. You can revoke the app's access to your contacts at any time from your device privacy settings. You will still be able to use messaging, calls, and the feed. You simply will not receive new mutual contact suggestions.
Manage notifications. You can disable push notifications at any time from your device settings.
7. Children's Privacy
Seen is not intended for anyone under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under that age. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account on Seen, please contact us at hello@myseenapp.com and we will investigate and delete the account promptly. Parents and guardians who have concerns about their child's use of Seen are encouraged to reach out to us.
8. Security
We take the security of your data seriously and implement industry standard technical and organisational safeguards to protect it. These include encryption of data in transit and at rest, strict access controls that limit who within our team can access user data, regular security reviews, and monitoring for unusual activity. No system connected to the internet can ever be guaranteed to be completely immune from attack, but we are committed to maintaining a high standard of security and to responding quickly if anything ever goes wrong.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as the app evolves or as regulations change. If we make changes that materially affect how we handle your data, we will notify you through the app or via your registered phone number at least 7 days before the changes take effect. The date at the top of this page always reflects when the policy was last updated. We encourage you to review it periodically.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, want to make a data request, or simply want to understand more about how Seen handles your information, please get in touch. We take these conversations seriously and respond to every message we receive.
You can reach our privacy team at hello@myseenapp.com. For general help, visit our support page.